Child Neglect

Objective: To examine the significance of neonatal risk factors from the individual, family, social, and parenting behavior domains of the ecological model of child maltreatment in predicting maltreatment reports in the first 4 years of life, and to examine the extent to which the interactions of life event stress and social support modify those risk factors. Method: Mothers of 708 predominantly at-risk infants were interviewed in their homes soon after their infants' discharge from the hospital. State child abuse and neglect central registry data were tracked every 6 months until the infants reached their fourth birthdays. Results: The incidence of maltreatment reports was higher in households where the mothers were depressed, complained of psychosomatic symptoms, had not graduated from high school, consumed alcohol, participated in public income support programs, cared for more than one dependent child, or were separated from their own mothers at age 14 years (p Ͻ .1). In interaction models including these seven predisposing variables, there were significant interactions (p Ͻ .01) between social support, as measured by the social well-being index after the birth of the index child, and depression, and between social well-being and stress, as measured by an increase in total life events. Conclusion: Some predisposing risk factors measured soon after birth continue to be significant predictors of child maltreatment reports through the fourth year of life. In general, families with low levels of social support had a higher risk of a maltreatment report. For families with lower levels of maternal depression and/or life event stress, low social support significantly increased the risk of a maltreatment report by as much as a factor of four.

An adequate death investigation requires the combined efforts and cooperation of experts in different disciplines: crime scene technicians, death investigators, forensic pathologists, anthropologists, entomologists, other medical and non-medical professionals. These front-line experts play a crucial role in every death investigation process. The forensic pathologist normally has the legal authority to take charge of the dead body at a death scene and his primary functions are the exterior and interior examination of the cadaver by analyzing the extent of antemortem injuries and the postmortem changes and the recovery of physical evidence. He is responsible for determining how, when and why of any death which is the result of violence, suspicious or unexplained circumstances or a death which is sudden or unattended, defending and explaining the reasons for making these diagnoses in a courtroom. The forensic entomologist can provide invaluable aid in death cases where human remains are colonized by insects and in the overall investigation. His principal role is to identify the arthropods associated with such cases and to analyze entomological data for interpreting insect evidence. He is responsible for determining the period of insect activity according to all the variables affecting insect invasion of remains and their development. The major goal of medico-criminal entomology is to contribute to the determination of the time, cause, manner and place of the investigated death (especially on badly decomposed corpses or skeletonized human remains) with the support of all the elements which can be inferred from the study of insects found on the cadaver or nearby. The application of techniques devised recently in forensic entomology can allow experts in the ®eld to collect strong entomological evidence and provide useful information not only in a death investigation including movement or storage of the remains following death, time of dismemberment, postmortem artifacts on the body but also at the scene, and even more in child neglect, sexual molestation and identi®cation of suspects. As the role of the forensic entomologist at the death scene, at the autopsy and in the laboratory is de®ned and well known, this paper focuses on the dif®culties that could arise if forensic pathologists and entomologists are uncertain about the procedures that they have to follow, do not realize the value of objective ®ndings or fail to evaluate them. Although every forensic case presents a slightly different set of circumstances and has to be tackled individually, the forensic pathologist should work with the forensic entomologist from the visual observations of the cadaver on the scene, through the collection of arthropods and temperature data at the death scene and at the autopsy, up to the ®nal report with the interpretation of entomological and other biological evidence. # : S 0 3 7 9 -0 7 3 8 ( 0 1 ) 0 0 4 2 5 -X

This study evaluated the relative efficacy of two promising treatments of child abuse and child neglect: parent training and multisystemic therapy. Subjects included 18 abusive families and 15 neglectful families who were randomly assigned to the treatment conditions. Self-report and observational measures were used to evaluate the effects of treatment at three levels that have been associated with child maltreatment: individual functioning, family relations, and stress/social support. Statistical analyses revealed that families who received either treatment showed decreased parental psychiatric symptomology, reduced overall stress, and a reduction in the severity of identified problems.

Recently, there have been several empirical studies exploring the effects of abortion on child outcome by correlating the availability of abortion to a mother at the time of a child's birth. This paper presents a model that helps explain the process, as well as establish that the incidence of child neglect is also reduced by access to abortion. It argues that the birth of a child reduces the desired quality of not only that particular birth but of all previous and subsequent offspring. More specifically, a family does not reduce the quality invested in a particular child, whether unwanted or not, but in all family members. Several propositions derived from the model are empirically tested. Some of the findings include that access to abortion reduces the neglect of children, yet is positively associated with sexual abuse. Furthermore, unlike the stylized facts, blacks and female-headed households are no more likely to neglect and abuse their children than other households once availability of abortion, employment status, income and other variables are taken into account. Finally, income and the poverty rate are found to be unrelated with maltreatment, while other variables such as the unemployment rate have better explanatory power. Keywords: abortion, child abuse and neglect, quality of children JEL Classification: Dl *I would like to acknowledge the comments of Chi

The evidence-based decision-making (EBD) review service seeks to improve evidence, understanding and decision making in complex cases of neglect known to local authorities. The key findings are:

• The review can play a role in improving evidence, understanding and decision making. Helpful features include: the requirement to be evidence based; the challenge provided by an NSPCC social worker; increased time given to the family; the use of numerical scores and traffic light coded charts; and the focus on strengths as well as weaknesses.

• The review was not always used to improve evidence,
understanding and decision making. The social worker’s focus, capacity for critical reflection, writing skills, communication skills and workload influenced his or her ability to get the most out of the review. The impact of the EBD review could be limited when social workers already had good evidence and understanding prior to the review.

• The findings suggest a range of activities that the NSPCC could engage in to develop practice in assessment and decision making on neglect. These are: promoting use of the review; providing an assessment service; promoting a culture of challenge and a focus on long-term safety within social work practice; and campaigning for sufficient time to be spent on the assessment of neglect.

• This report describes the different ways in which the review was used and explains the reasons for this variation. It does not aim to quantify the ways in which the review’s scale tool was used. Nor does it aim to establish the impact of the review or the validity or reliability of the scale tool used in the review. The validity and reliability of the tool has been demonstrated elsewhere (Kirk, 2008; Kirk, 2012; Kirk and Martens, 2006; Pennel, 2008).

Objective: This article highlights the manner in which child neglect, the most common form of maltreatment, affects children's development. Method: The review is organized according to three developmental periods (i.e., infancy/preschool, school-aged and younger adolescents, and older adolescents and adults) and major developmental processes (cognitive, social-emotional, and behavioral). Although the focus is on specific and unique effects of various forms of child neglect, particular attention is paid to studies that allow comparisons of neglect and abuse that clarify their similarities and differences. Results: Past as well as very recent findings converge on the conclusion that child neglect can have severe, deleterious short-and long-term effects on children's cognitive, socio-emotional, and behavioral development. Consistent with attachment and related theories, neglect occurring early in life is particularly detrimental to subsequent development. Moreover, neglect is associated with effects that are, in many areas, unique from physical abuse, especially throughout childhood and early adolescence. Relative to physically abused children, neglected children have more severe cognitive and academic deficits, social withdrawal and limited peer interactions, and internalizing (as opposed to externalizing) problems.

Objective: The aim of this study is twofold: First, to investigate whether cognitive functions can contribute to differentiating neglected children with or without physical abuse compared to comparison participants; second, to demonstrate the detrimental impact of children being victimized by a combination of different types of maltreatment. Methodology: Seventy-nine children aged 6-12 years and currently receiving Child Protection Services because of one of two types of maltreatment (neglect with physical abuse, n = 56; neglect without physical abuse, n = 28) were compared with a control group of 53 children matched for age, gender, and annual family income. The neuropsychological assessment focused on motor performance, attention, memory and learning, visual-motor integration, language, frontal/executive functions, and intelligence. Results: Discriminant analysis identified auditory attention and response set, and visual-motor integration (Function 1), and problem solving, abstraction, and planning (Function 2) as the two sets of variables that most distinguished the groups. Discriminant analysis predicted group membership in 80% of the cases. Children who were neglected with physical abuse showed cognitive deficits in auditory attention and response set, and visual-motor integration (Function 1) and problem solving, abstraction, and planning (Function 2). Children who were neglected without physical abuse differed from the control group in that they obtained lower scores in auditory attention and response set, and visual-motor integration (Function 1). Surprisingly, these same children demonstrated a greater capacity for problem solving, abstraction, and planning (Function 2) than the physically abused neglected and control children.

Objective: To review the current research literature on resilience to maltreatment in childhood and adolescence. Method: First, this paper addresses the methodological issues applicable to this area of research. Second, it reviews the empirical literature on the protective factors believed to contribute to resilience to maltreatment and offers commentary on specific issues raised in each study. Results: The current findings are summarized and an integrated descriptive picture, based on the extant literature of the processes and factors contributing to the development of resilience to childhood maltreatment is outlined. Conclusion: Based on this extensive review and critique of the current empirical literature on resilience to maltreatment, suggestions for future investigations in this area are recommended.

INTRODUCTION Child neglect is one of the most prevalent forms of child abuse. Neglect can be defined as a lack of sufficient attention, responsibility and protection that matches the age and needs of the child. There is no theory that fully explains why neglect of children happens. Three different causal models of neglect are given: parental deficit model, ecological deficit model and ecological-transaction model. Exposure to neglect in childhood may have a negative impact on the development of the child and cause short-term and long-term health, emotional, cognitive, academic and social difficulties. The aim of this paper was to provide a comprehensive theoretical overview of neglect of children causes and consequences. METHODS In this paper, we used review articles and meta-analyzes about child neglect causes and consequences published on Medline. RESULTS Child neglect has a relatively high prevalence rate compared to other types of child abuse. Several studies suggest that the im...

The empirical literature pertaining to the prevalence, origins, and consequences of neglectful parenting as it relates to substance abuse is critically reviewed. Available evidence indicates that children who experience parental neglect, with or without parental alcohol or drug abuse, are at high risk for substance use disorder (SUD). The effects of parental substance abuse on substance abuse outcome of their children appear to be partly mediated by their neglectful parenting. The discussion concludes with presentation of a developmental multifactorial model in which neglect, in conjunction with other individual and environmental factors, can be integratively investigated to quantify the child's overall liability across successive stages of development as well as to map the trajectory toward good and poor outcomes. D

Child neglect is the most prevalent type of child maltreatment, yet only a few standardized methods exist to assist in the assessment of this widespread problem. Existing measures of child neglect are limited by the nature of child neglect itself, in addition to issues of social desirability responding, and items that may infer blame and parental responsibility. This review first delineates child neglect, including its prevalence and characteristics, to provide a context in which to examine assessment issues. Later, standardized measures of child neglect are underscored, including a review of their response format and relevant psychometric support, if any. Future directions for practice and research are reported in light of these findings. D

This article reviews recent findings in the developmental neurophysiology of children subjected to psychological trauma. Studies link extreme neglect and abuse with long-term changes in the nervous and endocrine systems. A growing body of research literature indicates that individuals with severe trauma histories are at higher risk of behaving violently than those without such histories. This article links these two research areas by discussing how severe and protracted child abuse and/or neglect can lead to biological changes, putting these individuals at greater risk for committing homicide and other forms of violence than those without child maltreatment histories. The implications of these biological findings for forensic evaluations are discussed. Based on new understanding of the effects of child maltreatment, the authors invite law and mental health professionals to rethink their notions of justice and offender accountability, and they challenge policymakers to allocate funds for research into effective treatment and for service delivery.

The persecution of children as witches has received widespread reportage in the international mass media. In recent years, hundreds of children have been killed, maimed and abandoned across Africa based on individual and village-level accusations of witchcraft. Despite the media focus, to date, very little systematic study has investigated the phenomenon. In this case study, the persecution of child witches in Ghana is studied to explore the nature and patterns of witch hunts against children in the West African nation.There are no reliable national data on child abuse related to witchcraft accusations in Ghana. For this study, 13 cases of child witch hunts appearing in the local media during 1994–2009 were analyzed. Case summaries were constructed for each incident to help identify the socio-demographic characteristics of assailants and victims, victim-offender relationships, the methods of attacks, the spatial characteristics, as well as the motivations for the attacks.Children branded as witches ranged in age from 1-month-old to 17-years-old, were primarily from poor backgrounds, and lived in rural areas of the country. Accusations of witchcraft and witch assaults were lodged by close family members often through the encouragement of, or in concert with Christian clergymen and fetish priests. Accused witches were physically brutalized, tortured, neglected, and in two cases, murdered. For school-aged children, imputations of witchcraft contributed to stigmatization in both the community and at school, resulting in dropping out. The most frequently expressed reason for persecution of the child was suspicion that the child had used witchcraft to cause the death or illness of family relations or someone in the community. Another reason was suspicion that the child was responsible for the business failure or financial difficulties of a perceived victim.The results of this research are consistent with findings in the witchcraft literature suggesting that seemingly inexplicable illnesses, untimely deaths, and financial hardships tend to be the major causal forces generating witch hunts. Additional research is necessary to further shed light on child witch hunts in Ghana and other countries.To reduce the incidence of such abuse, there is a need for increased advocacy and protections for children in the society. The government must also increase the penalties for child abuse. This will serve as a deterrent to potential offenders. Additionally, through public service campaigns, educating citizens about the causes and trajectories of diseases, will lead to a significant diminution of witchcraft accusations and the associated violence.

Implementation of evidence-based practices (EBP) in child welfare is a complex process that is often fraught with unanticipated events, conflicts, and resolutions. To some extent, the nature of the process, problems, and solutions may be dependent on the perspectives and experiences of a given stakeholder group. In order to better understand the implementation process in the child-welfare system, we interviewed comprehensive home-based services (CHBS) case managers who were actively engaged in implementing an EBP to reduce child neglect in a state youth services system. Six primary factors were identified as critical determinants of EBP implementation: (1) Acceptability of the EBP to the caseworker and to the family, (2) Suitability of the EBP to the needs of the family, (3) Caseworker motivations for using the EBP, (4) Experiences with being trained in the EBP, (5) Extent of organizational support for EBP implementation, and (6) Impact of EBP on process and outcome of services. These factors reflect two broader themes of attitudes toward or assessments of the EBP itself and experiences with learning and delivering the EBP. Eventual implementation is viewed as the consequence of perseverance, experience, and flexibility.

The overall purpose of this study was to examine the correlates of substantiation of child neglect or child abuse in children 0-48 months of age in five areas: (1) child characteristics, (2) parent characteristics, (3) home characteristics, (4) social characteristics, and (5) maltreatment characteristics. A second purpose was to compare the results of this study to the current body of child maltreatment research.

Widespread efforts are being made to increase awareness and provide education to pediatricians regarding risk factors of child abuse and neglect. The purpose of this clinical report is to ensure that children with disabilities are recognized as a population that is also at risk of maltreatment. Some conditions related to a disability can be confused with maltreatment. The need for early recognition and intervention of child abuse and neglect in this population, as well as the ways that a medical home can facilitate the prevention and early detection of child maltreatment, are the subject of this report.

Aim  of  this  study  is  to  inform  about  the  prevention  of  child  abuse  and  neglect.  This  study  was  prepared  as  a  compilation. Effective  programmes  are  those  that  support  parents  and  teach  positive  parenting  skills.  Some  of  the  most  effective responses  for  preventing  child  abuse  and  neglect  focus  on  child-rearing,  parent-child  relationships  and  the  family environment,  including  training  in  parenting.  Nurses  have  a  key  role  to  play  in  identifying,  treating  and  referring  cases  of abuse and neglect in reporting suspected cases of maltreatment to the appropriate authorities. Child abuse and neglect have a long lasting impact on the child, its family and the following generations. In order to protect children from this situation, it is  necessary  to  developpreventive  programs,  to  raise  awareness  of  their  families-teachers-community  and  to  make  legal arrangements. Additional research is needed to determine effective approaches for nurses to prevent child abuse or neglect

Objective: To examine the significance of neonatal risk factors from the individual, family, social, and parenting behavior domains of the ecological model of child maltreatment in predicting maltreatment reports in the first 4 years of life, and to examine the extent to which the interactions of life event stress and social support modify those risk factors.Method: Mothers of 708 predominantly at-risk infants were interviewed in their homes soon after their infants’ discharge from the hospital. State child abuse and neglect central registry data were tracked every 6 months until the infants reached their fourth birthdays.Results: The incidence of maltreatment reports was higher in households where the mothers were depressed, complained of psychosomatic symptoms, had not graduated from high school, consumed alcohol, participated in public income support programs, cared for more than one dependent child, or were separated from their own mothers at age 14 years (p < .1). In interaction models including these seven predisposing variables, there were significant interactions (p < .01) between social support, as measured by the social well-being index after the birth of the index child, and depression, and between social well-being and stress, as measured by an increase in total life events.Conclusion: Some predisposing risk factors measured soon after birth continue to be significant predictors of child maltreatment reports through the fourth year of life. In general, families with low levels of social support had a higher risk of a maltreatment report. For families with lower levels of maternal depression and/or life event stress, low social support significantly increased the risk of a maltreatment report by as much as a factor of four.Spanish abstract not available at time of publication.Objectif: Examiner l’importance des facteurs de risque néonatals au niveau individuel, social, familial et du comportement parental, dans une perspective écologique de la maltraitance. Ceci pour aider à prédire s’il y aura maltraitance au cours des quatre premières années de la vie, et pour examiner dans quelle mesure les interactions qui se déroulent dans le contexte des événements stressants de la vie et les appuis sociaux peuvent modifier ces facteurs de risque.Méthode: On a interviewé 708 mères dont les enfants étaient considérés à risque élevé. Les entrevues ont eu lieu au foyer, peu après la rentrée de l’hôpital. On a suivi les registres de mauvais traitements et de négligence à tous les six mois jusqu’à ce que les enfants aient atteint l’âge de quatre ans.Résultats: L’incidence des signalements de mauvais traitements étaient plus élevée dans les foyers où la mère était déprimée, se plaignait de symptômes psychosomatiques, n’avait pas complété l’école secondaire, prenait de l’alcool, faisait partie d’un groupe d’appui financé par l’état, avait plus d’un enfant à sa charge ou avait été séparée de sa propre mère à l’âge de 14 ans. Une analyse de ces sept variables indiquent des liens importants entre, d’une part, l’appui social (tel que mesuré selon l’indice de bien-être après la naissance) et la dépression; puis entre le bien être et le stress, ceci à la suite d’une hausse des événements quotidiens stressants.Conclusions: Certains facteurs de risque notés peu après la naissance demeurent des facteurs importants capables de prédire les mauvais traitements au cours des quatre années qui suivront. En général, les familles qui jouissent de peu d’appuis sociaux sont les plus souvent signalées aux autorités pour cause de maltraitance. Pour les familles qui ont des niveaux de dépression maternelle inférieure et/ou qui connaissent peu de stress dans leur vie, l’absence d’appuis sociaux augmente jusqu’à quatre fois le risque d’un signalement.

Objective: The dynamics of interactions between evidence-based intervention (EBI) developers and trainers and organizations and providers that deliver the EBI was examined in two case studies, a statewide randomized effectiveness trial of an EBI to reduce child neglect and a randomized trial of EBIs for depression, anxiety, and conduct problems in children and adolescents. Methods: Data were collected using ethnographic methods of participant observation and semistructured interviews and analyzed using grounded theory analytic methods. Results: Formal and informal interactions between EBI propagators and end users provide access to resources and exchange of global and local knowledge of service delivery. Productive interactions require accessibility, mutual respect, a shared language, and a willingness to engage in negotiation and compromise to resolve differences in demands imposed by organizational culture, the need for EBI fidelity, and client characteristics. Conclusion: A cultural exchange characterized by information sharing and behavioral change through a process of negotiation and compromise is central to evidence-based practice in youth serving systems of care.

This study evaluated the relative efficacy of two promising treatments of child abuse and child neglect: parent training and multisystemic therapy. Subjects included 18 abusive families and 15 neglectful families who were randomly assigned to the treatment conditions. Self-report and observational measures were used to evaluate the effects of treatment at three levels that have been associated with child maltreatment: individual functioning, family relations, and stress/social support. Statistical analyses revealed that families who received either treatment showed decreased parental psychiatric symptomology, reduced overall stress, and a reduction in the severity of identified problems.

Objective: Childhood abuse and other adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have historically been studied individually, and relatively little is known about the co-occurrence of these events. The purpose of this study is to examine the degree to which ACEs co-occur as well as the nature of their co-occurrence. Method: We used data from 8,629 adult members of a health plan who completed a survey about 10 ACEs which included: childhood abuse (emotional, physical, and sexual), neglect (emotional and physical), witnessing domestic violence, parental marital discord, and living with substance abusing, mentally ill, or criminal household members. The bivariate relationship between each of these 10 ACEs was assessed, and multivariate linear regression models were used to describe the interrelatedness of ACEs after adjusting for demographic factors. Results: Two-thirds of participants reported at least one ACE; 81%-98% of respondents who had experienced one ACE reported at least one additional ACE (median: 87%). The presence of one ACE significantly increased the prevalence of having additional ACEs, elevating the adjusted odds by 2 to 17.7 times (median: 2.8). The observed number of respondents with high ACE scores was notably higher than the expected number under the assumption of independence of ACEs (p < .0001), confirming the statistical interrelatedness of ACEs. Conclusions: The study provides strong evidence that ACEs are interrelated rather than occurring independently. Therefore, collecting information about exposure to other ACEs is advisable for studies that focus on the ଝ The Adverse Childhood Experiences Study was supported under a cooperative agreement #TS-44-10/11 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention through the Association of Teachers of Preventive Medicine and is currently funded by a grant from the Garfield Memorial Fund at Kaiser Permanente. Dr. Dong was supported by cooperative agreement #TS-44-10/11 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention through the Association of Teachers of Preventive Medicine.

While the User Manual Series primarily addresses the issues of child abuse and neglect, this manual delves deeper into the root causes, symptoms, and consequences of neglect, as well as the interdisciplinary ways to prevent both its occurrence and recurrence. Readers of Child Neglect: A Guide for Assessment, Prevention, and Intervention also may be interested in Child Protective Services: A Guide for Caseworkers, which goes into more depth on issues such as family assessment and case planning. They also may have interest in A Coordinated Response to Child Abuse and Neglect: The Foundation for Practice, the keystone for the series, which addresses the definition, scope, causes, and consequences of child abuse and neglect. It Child Neglect: A Guide for Prevention, Assessment, and Intervention presents an overview of prevention efforts and the different professional groups and offers guidance on how the groups can work together effectively to protect the safety, permanency, and well-being of children. child protection process. Because child protection is a multidisciplinary effort, The Foundation for Practice describes the roles and responsibilities of User Manual Series

Staff retention is an ongoing challenge in mental health and community-based service organizations. Little is known about the impact of evidence-based practice implementation on the mental health and social service workforce. The present study examined the effect of evidence-based practice implementation and ongoing fidelity monitoring on staff retention in a children’s services system. The study took place in the context of a statewide regionally randomized effectiveness trial of an evidence-based intervention designed to reduce child neglect. Twenty-one teams consisting of 153 home-based service providers were followed over a 29 month period. Survival analyses revealed greater staff retention in the condition where the evidence-based practice was implemented along with ongoing fidelity monitoring presented to staff as supportive consultation. These results should help to allay concerns about staff retention when implementing evidence-based practices where there is good values-innovation fit and when fidelity monitoring is designed as an aid and support to service providers in providing a high standard of care for children and families.

Objective: This study assesses the relationship of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) to nine other categories of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), including childhood abuse, neglect, and multiple types of household dysfunction. Methods: Retrospective cohort study data were collected from 17,337 adult health plan members who responded to a survey questionnaire. Regression models adjusted for age, race, and education were used to estimate the strength of the association of CSA to each of the other nine ACEs and a graded relationship between measures of the severity of CSA and the number of other ACEs (ACE score). Results: CSA was reported by 25% of women and 16% of men. In comparison with persons who were not exposed to CSA, the likelihood of experiencing each category of ACE increased 2-to 3.4-fold for women and 1.6-to 2.5-fold for men (p < .05). The adjusted mean ACE score showed a significant positive graded relationship to the severity, duration, and frequency of CSA and an inverse relationship to age at first occurrence of CSA (p < .01). Conclusions: CSA is strongly associated with experiencing multiple other forms of ACEs. The strength of this association appears to increase as the measures of severity of the CSA increases. The ଝ The Adverse Childhood Experiences Study was supported under a cooperative agreement #TS-44-10/11 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention through the Association of Teachers of Preventive Medicine and is currently funded by a grant from the Garfield Memorial Fund.

Street children have become a permanent feature of the most urban landscapes in many developing nations. They are hard to miss, since the realities of existence fall within the realms of our daily consciousness, either by reading about in the newspaper or seeing them in some of the most uncomplimentary manner on the televisions or the internet. Yet the plights of these children continue to deteriorate in many developing countries, where resources are woefully inadequate to as deal with the situation. Many published accounts of street children see them in aggregate terms, thus readers are not able to develop a more personal and a heightened sense of empathy for these children. Thus paper provides an individualized account of a street girl, from birth to the day she enters the streets. In a form of a narrative, the street girl opens up the life that in most cases are shielded from field researchers. She opens up about abuses street girls face, and the mechanism they employed to protec...

We aimed at determining the association of both severity of paternal and maternal substance use disorder (SUD) and psychiatric disorders with paternal child neglect severity during late childhood. The sample comprised 146 intact SUD (n = 71) and non SUD (n = 75) families with a 10-12 year old female or male biological offspring. The average age of fathers, mothers, and children was 44 (SD = 5.9), 42 (SD = 4.78), and 11 (SD = .79) years, respectively. The ethnic composition was 85% Caucasian and 15% African American. The results showed that paternal and maternal SUD and psychiatric disorders severity was correlated with paternal child neglect severity. However, paternal psychopathology failed to achieve significance in the regression analyses. Severity of maternal, especially severity of antisocial personality disorder symptoms was associated with paternal child neglect. These results are discussed within the framework of evolutionary psychology research examining paternal investment in the offspring. Implications for the necessity of identifying parental psychopathology and an integrated treatment approach are discussed.

Canadian study of child maltreatment cases to identify important differences: Aboriginal families face worse socioeconomic conditions, are more often investigated because of neglect, less often reported for physical or sexual abuse, and report higher rates of substance abuse. At every decision point in the cases, Aboriginal children are overrepresented: investigations are more likely to be substantiated, cases are more likely to be kept open for ongoing services, and children are more likely to be placed in out-of-home care. Findings suggest the development of neglect intervention programs that include poverty reduction and substance misuse components.

This article describes the development and psychometric properties of the Multidimensional Neglectful Behavior Scale-Child Report (MNBS-CR). The measure is broadly conceptualized to tap child neglect across four core domains: cognitive, emotional, physical and supervisory neglect, and it assesses exposure to violence, alcohol-related neglect, abandonment, and children's appraisals of parenting. Features include pictorial items, audio computer-assisted testing, and programming by age and gender of the child and caregiver. A clinical sample of 144 children, age 6 to 15 years, and a comparison sample of 87 children were tested. Results showed that the MNBS-CR has high reliability, with higher reliability found for older children (alpha = .94) than for younger children (alpha = .66). Among older children, the MNBS-CR Supervisory scale was significantly associated with the Child Behavior Check List (CBCL), and total MNBS-CR scores were significantly associated with clinician reports of behavioral disorders. Younger and older neglected children scored significantly higher on the MNBS-CR than community children.